


Gringoletto conquista Siena

by beheadaed



Category: Arthurian Literature - Fandom, Arthurian Mythology
Genre: Fluff, Horse Racing, Italian AU, M/M, Palio di Siena au, This Is Incredibly Self Indulgent, gawain is a slutty model and part time criminal, lancelot is a librarian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23689663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beheadaed/pseuds/beheadaed
Summary: In which Lancelot and Gawain compete in a traditional horse racing competition in Siena, Italy, and gay stuff happens.
Relationships: Gawain/Lancelot du Lac (Arthurian), Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6
Collections: Arthurian_Server_Squad





	Gringoletto conquista Siena

**Author's Note:**

> alright thank you to rey gawain_in_green who is a genius and who tolerates all of my incoherent screaming!!!  
> i'm just gonna give a brief explanation of the context for clarity.  
> so, the palio di siena is a horse racing competition that is held twice a year in piazza del campo, in siena, since the middle ages. siena is divided in contrades, which are kind of like neighbourhoods but also clubs, each of which chooses a rider to compete in the palio. technically if you are not from siena you can't be in a contrade and thus cant compete in the palio, but you can be invited into a contrade.  
> for more specific notes abt italian words and stuff see the notes at the end!  
> also the names of the characters are in italian for setting reason but it should be pretty self explanatory who's who.

CHAPTER 1

Lancillotto had heard whispers about the rider for the Contrade of the Dragon since May, but he never paid them any mind, focused as he was on his training for the _Palio _. Someone with more of a penchant for gossip would have learned about this new rider’s rather unconventional methods of getting in the _Palio _, or about his horse’s penchant for anthropophagy, but unfortunately for Lancillotto, he was completely oblivious to all of this.  
Lancillotto saw him for the first time from afar, at the Assigning of the Horses to the Contrade. He looked radiant in the early summer light, nothing like the man who was in his place the previous year, and Lancillotto reflected that perhaps he should have paid more attention to the rumours. He spent the time before the _Prima Prova _trying to find out what he could about the mystery rider, and was left quite baffled by the end of his research.  
His name was Galvano Orcadi and according to Gianni the baker, he was arrested for murder once. Tommaso, the barista in the local bar, didn’t agree, but he said that he was from Torino and that he slept with the _Priore _and the _Capitano _to get into the Contrade. Lancillotto didn’t find this hard to believe, judging by how handsome he was. Some children who overheard the conversation informed him that his horse, Gringoletto, had a taste for human flesh, but that sounded like straight up nonsense to Lancillotto, who stopped believing them when they pronounced the horse’s name, which he deemed too ridiculous to be true.  
“Who the fuck names their horse Gringoletto?” muttered Lancillotto, climbing the steep stairs of his apartment in the heart of the Contrade of the _Onda _  
As soon as he got home, he made himself a cup of green tea and opened his computer, determined to find out more about this Galvano character. He searched his name on Google, and his confusion only grew: the first link was to an article on _La Stampa _about a brawl in Barriera Di Milano, which even Lancillotto, whose visits to Torino had always been limited to his friend's apartment in the city centre, knew to be a very shady neighbourhood.  
He did some more digging and found out that the man had a variety of equally odd assault charges, such as attacking a ticket inspector despite having a ticket and assaulting a police officer while dressed as Batman. He also found his Instagram account, where he discovered two crucial bits of information: he was from Cuneo, he was a relatively famous model based in Torino, and, most surprisingly, he was Artù’s nephew. Lancillotto had met Artù, a Medieval Literature professor in Torino, through his job as a librarian, and quickly befriended him, so of course, upon finding out about Galvano’s parentage, he instantly called him.  
“ _Pronto _?” Artù answered the phone, voice groggy from sleep.  
“Hey, it’s me, Lancillotto.”  
“Oh, hello. This better be good, you've woken me up from my nap”  
“Oh, I’m sorry, I can call you back later if you want.” Lancillotto’s voice sounded very apologetic.  
“No, don't worry, I have papers to grade anyways, and you’ve got the _Prima Prova _later… So, what did you call me for?”  
“Okay so, do you have a nephew named Galvano Orcadi? And if yes, what the hell?”  
“Oh god, what did Galvano do this time?” Artù said, exasperation towards his nephew’s shenanigans clear in his voice.  
“He’s competing in the _Palio _, Artù, didn’t you know?”  
“No? What the fuck?”  
“Well, he is. Anyway, what's up with those assault charges?”  
“Oh, those… Nothing much, he’s a bit of a rascal with a penchant for trouble and violence but other than that he’s okay, he’s a chill guy,” Artù replied, matter-of-factly.  
“A chill guy. Okay. By the way, is it true what they say about the horse? That it’s a cannibal, that is.”  
“Oh, Gringoletto, yeah… Just be careful when you feed it, okay?”  
“What the actual fuck. I’m guessing he’s a good rider?”  
“A great one, believe me,” Artù said, with a hint of pride in his voice, despite the fact that this was most definitely bad news for Lancillotto’s chances in the _Palio _.  
“Shit.”  
“Yeah.”  
“Is he single?” Lancillotto asked, almost too quickly to be understood. He was immensely grateful for Artù’s inability to use Facetime, considering how red his face was.  
Artù broke into deep laughter. “He is, but sleeping with the enemy, Lancillotto? Really?” He replied, amused beyond measure.  
“Shut up. I’ve got to go now, the _Prova _is soon and I need to get ready,” Lancillotto said, voice full of embarrassment.  
“Oh, don’t let me keep you. God, Ginevra and Morgana are gonna love this…”  
“Goodbye Artù, wish me luck, since apparently I’m gonna need it”  
“Bye, good luck!” Arthur wished him.  
Lancillotto ended the call, dreading the inevitable texts he was going to get from Ginevra and her wife, Morgana, as soon as Artù told them the news. He put his phone down and pulled a granola bar out of his fridge, which he anxiously snacked on while he ironed his clothes for the _Prova _. The colours were nice, white and light blue. “They bring out your eyes,” Palamede, the rider for the Contrade of the Giraffe, had told him. Lancelot wasn’t convinced.  
He got dressed and headed out to join the rest of his Contrade that would accompany him to Piazza del Campo. Once he got there his ears had gotten so used to the loud noises of the crowds that he barely noticed how packed of people it was.  
He smiled absently as he received encouraging pats on the back from his comrades and climbed on Secace II, his horse. He had a brief moment to look around while he took his position on the starting line, enough to see Galvano, who had no right to look that good in the worst uniform ever designed. Lancillotto had no idea how anyone could pull off red green and yellow, but somehow Galvano did. He only realized he was staring when Galvano noticed and winked at him. Thankfully, he didn’t have time to be embarrassed as the race started and everything disappeared but the ground in front of him.  
Lancillotto was focused, his mind full of the air he was speeding though: he didn’t see Galvano flanking him and he didn’t hear the crowd roaring and cheering when they arrived to the finish line together, ending the _Prima Prova _in a draw. Slowly, he regained awareness of his surroundings and smiled and waved at the crowd.  
“Well, it seems that I have found my match,” said Galvano, breathless and smiling wildly.  
Lancillotto only managed to flash him a shy and wobbly smile before being whisked away by his Contrade, eager to celebrate. After that, the evening went away in a haze: clothes were changed, a shower was had and food was consumed, but Lancillotto was running on autopilot, tired as he was.  
Once the festivities were done, he stepped out for a breath of fresh air. He had always loved the city at night, the groups of tourists and drunken dwellers sounded muted in the stillness of the moment and the streetlights cast everything in a warm and reassuring light. He had been strolling aimlessly for a while when he recognized a familiar face at the end of the street. Galvano waved at him and gestured him to come closer.  
“Hey, I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself earlier! Galvano, _piacere _,” he greeted as Lancillotto approached him.  
“ _Piacere _, Lancillotto Del Lago.”  
“I’ve been trying to meet you since I’ve come here, but you’re hard to get a hold of. They tell me you’re who I should be looking out for.”  
“They flatter me,” Lancillotto replied, the tips of his ears turning pink.  
“Look, I was about to go get a drink, wanna come with?” Galvano offered.  
“That sounds like sabotage, but sure,” Lancillotto followed him to a table outside a small bar. They ordered their drinks and started idly chatting about this and that. Galvano was really charming, Lancillotto thought. He had a wide smile that made his eyes crinkle a little bit and soft brown hair, and Lancillotto had to admit it was a little distracting.  
“Ehi, earth to Del Lago, are you there?” Galvano waved his pink drink in front of his face. Lancillotto flinched, finally realizing he was staring.  
“Shit, uhhh sorry… What were you saying?”  
“I was telling you about how my uncle got dumped for his sister,” Galvano said, amused.  
“Oh yeah… Artù’s always been quite stingy with the details,” Lancillotto chuckled.  
“Yeah… I can see why. Anyway, I hear you’re a librarian? How does a librarian end up competing in the _Palio _?”  
“Pretty much how everyone else does. You, however, are a far more surprising addition to this year’s _Palio _.”  
“Let’s just say I have my ways,” Galvano grinned. Lancillotto hummed in response.  
“You know, I have to say say that when I heard about Lancillotto, the four-times winner of the _Palio di Siena _, I was definitely not expecting Lancillotto, my uncle’s librarian friend,” Galvano said, but there was no real mockery in his voice.  
“Sorry to disappoint…”  
“I’m not disappointed, far from it actually. I was just surprised.”  
“Oh,” Lancillotto smiled. The conversation went on for another while, but soon both had to part ways because the next Prova was early in the morning and neither of them intended to lose due to sleep deprivation.  
Lancillotto was sitting on his balcony, a wine glass in his hand, and he smiled as he looked down on the small street below. His chest felt warm, maybe from the drinks or maybe for some other reason, and maybe sleep could wait for a while, Lancillotto thought as he basked in this pleasant feeling.______________________________________

**Author's Note:**

> prima prova: first rehearsal (prova is rehearsal)  
> orcadi: orkney  
> priore: highest representative of a contrade  
> capitano: person in charge of the palio in a contrade  
> contrade of the onda: onda means wave but i did not like the sound in english so i didnt translate it  
> gringoletto: not actually the real italian version of gringolet, but this way it sounds funnier  
> la stampa: important newspaper based in torino  
> cuneo: little town in piedmont, there's a stereotype that says that people from there are dumb  
> pronto: literally it means ready, it's just a word you say at the beginning of a call  
> piacere: literally it means pleasure, here it means nice to meet you


End file.
